The Star: May 06, 2021

• By Chris Barclay
IT’S CUSTOMARY to get
straight back in the saddle after
a setback, although veteran
harness driver-trainer Kevin
Townley will take time to
consider if and when it is wise to
climb into a sulky after his latest
accident.
A 70-year-old requiring a hip
replacement is not unusual, but
the background to Townley’s
procedure in Christchurch Hospital
sets the West Melton-based
horseman apart.
“I was going up in the air and
the next thing I remember was
all these faces staring down at
me,” Townley recalled when
revisiting his crash with Murano
at Rangiora on April 18.
“I’ve seen the replay, I suppose
I was two or three metres in the
air, then I got run over. It [the
footage] doesn’t show that.”
The stewards’ report states Gift
Card fell and checked Murano
plus Tom Brady. Townley was
one of three drivers dislodged
by the incident. Murano, which
avoided injury, galloped on
before being corralled.
“[Murano] fell in a split second
– apparently it stood on a shoe.
You think very fast on the track
and in a split second I thought:
‘There’s no way out of this one’,”
Townley said.
He was treated at the track
and transported to Christchurch
Hospital with hip, rib and lung
damage. He was released last
Friday to continue his rehabilitation
with wife Margaret.
“My left hip was smashed up
pretty bad so I got a total hip
replacement but there’s still a
fracture or two to heal. Hopefully
they’re healing all right
with the new apparatus on
board,” he said.
Townley already has a plate
and several screws in his shoulder
following an accident during
track work. After a crash during
a trial at Motukarara, a horse
trod on his hand, breaking all
the bones.
He was also kicked in the
head by a horse before a race in
Westport in 2017, with a helmet
fortunately bearing the brunt of
the blow.
Townley shrugged off those
incidents – and several others
through the years – reasoning:
“It can be a bit of a rough industry,
you expect things like that.
I’ve bounced back pretty good
but there must be an age where
you don’t.”
That might be approaching,
with Townley conceding the
Rangiora spill was the worst he
has experienced.
“It’s not great timing to be fair
– at 70 you don’t bounce back
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quite as well either. I don’t know
how much I’ll be able to do in
the future. That will work itself
out I guess.”
Townley returned to his stable
on Tuesday to check on his small
team.
“We’ll see how the next couple
of months go and how I get
around. I’ve got to lift my leg
into the sulky don’t I,” he said.
The surgical advice was to release
the reins but he would not
be pushed into retirement.
“I just have to judge it myself
really. There’s no rush, I’ve got
another month before the bones
are healed anyway.”
Townley started training in
with his father Doody in 1987
before training in his own right
from 1995. He has 263 winners
and another 230 with his dad.
Most of his horses are spelling
now although Harbour Queen
placed third at Methven on April
26, just the tonic as he followed
the race from his ward.
Townley has also been boosted
by the harness racing fraternity.
“I’ve been inundated by offers
of help,” he said.
SPORT 33
Crash puts driving on hold Grasstrack
REINED IN: Veteran harness racing trainer-driver Kevin Townley is making a patient
recovery from surgery following a serious crash during a race at Rangiora (below).
PHOTOS: GEOFF SLOAN & TRACKSIDE (below)
Thursday May 6 2021 The Star
to build
on season’s
success
• By Dave Di Somma
GRASSTRACK RACING has
been a massive success this
season, and there will be even
more meetings in 2021/22.
The dates calendar has 38
grasstrack meetings next season,
including three dual code. That’s
four more than this season, and
includes the return to Hawera in
Taranaki. Their two meetings will
be held over Waitangi weekend
(February 4 and 6, 2022).
There will be two other North
Island meetings, at Wairarapa
and Kapiti, and 34 in the south.
Mt Harding at Methven and
Motukarara will be the busiest
grasstracks, with seven meetings
each next season, while Westport
gets three and Geraldine doubles
its quota to two.
Gore will also race on the grass
twice, as will Oamaru and the
Forbury Park Trotting Club at
Wingatui.
Methven hosted the last
grasstrack meeting of the season
on April 26.
Methven Trotting Club president
Mark Lemon is reasonably
happy with next season’s allocation,
saying the club can handle
one meeting a month, although
he thinks nationwide there is still
potential to have even more meetings
over the warmer months.
“We should be having a meeting
on every Sunday, and we are
not doing that.”
Grasstrack racing’s popularity
with punters is well known. This
season Methven turned over
more than $1 million at five of
its seven meetings, with a best of
$1,565,647 on October 11. The
Hororata Club’s meeting there
also did $1,132,720.
Said Lemon: “When you add
it all up it was over $9.5 million
at Methven . . . the only two
we didn’t do a million on were
the two when we only had nine
races.”
– Harness News Desk
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